Article Image Alt Text

Lady Vikings roll together a pair of wins, fall to Elkhorn Valley

WAUSA — The Wausa Lady Vikings got what they needed to get back on some proper footing after a solid 56-33 win last weekend.

They are now 5-11 overall and getting ready for a big week as they tip off conference tournament play Saturday and were to know their first opponents at Tuesday’s draw.

Summerland comes to town Thursday as a warmup for the big show this weekend.

“Summerland is a good team, but I believe they are a team we can play with and like any game, give ourselves a chance late and see what happens,” Wausa head coach Brandon Kirby said. “We need to settle down and take each possession one at a time. We must come together as a group and look to make each other look good and then feed off of that.

Kirby said his team is mentally ready to compete.

“I can tell you that I like the hunger in our girls. You can see the frustration on their faces and they want to do well. I think once it clicks with them, we are going to be a dangerous team. I don’t think other teams will see it coming, because they will look at our record and that will be all they see.”

Last week, the Lady Vikings fell 55-39 at Elkhorn Valley, seeing a 25-22 halftime lead wiped out by a 25-5 third quarter run by their hosts.

Abby Kaiser led the way with nine points while Blair Wakeley and Brooke Kumm each scored eight points.

“The glaring stat of the night has to be that we were 0-for-1 from the free throw line,” Kirby said. “I am not sure, but that has to be close to a record.”

Two days later the performance improved but it wasn’t enough in a 45-36 loss to Tri-County Northeast.

The Wausa offense clicked early as they fired out to a 17-10 first quarter lead but saw the mojo wane as it headed into the half wit ha 23-22 advantage.

In the end Kaiser was able to hit 13 points with Morgan Kleinschmit helping with nine points. Then came the much needed win.

“After the tough and long week, we tried to do a few things a little different with mixing in a few different groups and at first it was a little rough,” Kirby said. “The girls did a great job and settled down. Just about every girl in the book was able to score and contribute in some way.

Kaiser scored nine points while Wakeley and Alexa Cunningham each added eight points. Wakeley also pitched in with five steals and Kleinschmit with four assists.

“This is a week if we could, we would want back,” Kirby said. “We played well in every game this week, but were unable to finish in the first two games. When it comes to keys of the games, I would say at times we played as a team and at other times our bad habits came back to haunt us. In the second half of each (of the first two games) we were unable to keep our cool and finish with our heads on our shoulders.

“I think, due to most of the team being young, we try to do too much and it has an adverse effect. I know our girls can play at a level and there are times that we can do it, but then there are other times our youth shows.”

One player, Kaiser, continues to spark the team despite some recent shooting struggles.

“She is starting to find her stroke and it is helping out a lot,” Kirby said.

Kaiser is pleased with her improvement as a player despite the occasional bump in the road. She also is happy with the Winside win that can only help with the Lady Vikings finding their footing.

“It felt really good and it gave us some confidence to keep going,” Kaiser said. “We had more teamwork and worked better together. We are a young team and we are learning slowly how to play with each other. We struggled in the past few weeks, but our focus has been to work together more.

“We were boxing out and reading each other more on offense and had a lot more ball movement.”

SCORING

WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 9; Blair Wakeley, 8; Brooke Kumm, 8; Morgan Kleinschmit, 4; Alexa Cunningham, 4; AshlynnTimmerman, 3; Anika Alonzo, 3.

REBOUNDS

WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 5 Alexa Cunningham, 5; Morgan Kleinschmit, 3; Brooke Kumm, 3; Blair Wakeley, 2; Ashlynn Timmerman, 1; Sienna West, 1; Anika Alonzo, 1.

ASSISTS

WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 4; Morgan Kleinschmit, 4; Anika Alonzo, 2; Blair Wakeley, 1; Kilee Thorell, 1; Sienna West, 1; Brooke Kumm, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1.

STEALS

WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 4; Abby Kaiser, 2; Morgan Kleinschmit, 2; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Christina Martinson, 1; Ashlynn Timmerman, 1. Charlie Price, 1; Brooke Kumm., 1; Anika Alonzo, 1.

SCORING WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 13; Morgan Kleinschmit, 9; Blair

Wakeley, 6; Brooke Kumm, 5; Charlie Price, 2; Sienna West, 1.

REBOUNDS WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 5; Sienna West, 5; Alexa Cunningham, 5; Morgan Kleinschmit, 4; Brooke Kumm, 4; Anika Alonzo, 3; Blair Wakeley, 2; Kylee Thorell, 2; Charlie Price, 1.

ASSISTS WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 3; Morgan Kleinschmit, 2; Sienna West, 2; Anika Alonzo, 2; Abby Kaiser, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1.

STEALS WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1; Brooke Kumm, 1; Anika Alonzo, 1.

SCORING WAUSA - Abby Kaiser, 9; Blair Wakeley, 8; Alexa Cunningham, 8; Morgan Kleinschmit, 7; Anika Alonzo, 7; Sienna West, 4; Brooke Kumm, 4; Kilee Thorell, 3; Ashlynn Timmerman, 3; Hadley Vanness, 2; Charlie Price, 1.

REBOUNDS WAUSA - Alexa Cunningham, 8; Brooke Kumm, 6; Abby Kaiser, 3; Hadley Vanness, 3; Sienna West, 3; Charlie Price, 3; Anika Alonzo, 3; Blair Wakeley, 2; Kilee Thorell, 2; Ashlynn Timmerman, 2; Morgan Kleinschmit, 1;

ASSISTS WAUSA - Morgan Kleinschmit, 4; Abby Kaiser, 3; Blair Wakeley, 2; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Kilee Thorell, 1; Ashlynn Timmerman, 1; Sienna West, 1.

STEALS WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 5; Abby Kaiser, 4; Morgan Kleinschmit, 3; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Anika Alonzo, 2; Christina Martinson, 1; Kilee Thorell, 1; Sienna West, 1.

Stay in the know!

To get news alerts on your cell phone, get the Cedar County News app in the ITunes store or  in the Google Play Store.

Northeast Nebraska News Company

102 W. Main
Hartington NE 68739
402-254-3997